# seladb/PcapPlusPlus

PcapPlusPlus is a multiplatform C++ library for capturing, parsing and crafting of network packets. It is designed to be efficient, powerful and easy to use. It provides C++ wrappers for the most popular packet processing engines such as libpcap, Npcap, WinPcap, DPDK, AF_XDP and PF_RING.

Repository: https://github.com/seladb/PcapPlusPlus
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/pcapplusplus
Homepage: https://pcapplusplus.github.io/
Language: C++
License: Unlicense
License Family: permissive
Topics: pf-ring, dpdk, packet-parsing, winpcap, pcap-files, pcap, packet-processing, cpp, libpcap, multiplatform, linux, mac-osx, windows, networking, network-forensics, network-tools, tcp-reassembly, packet-crafting, pcapplusplus, ebpf
Last push: 2026-08-26T15:49:42+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 86/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 62, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4348, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 41, "gap_med": 335.5, "n_releases_24m": 3}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3131, forks 753 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:45.501458+00:00)

## What it is
PcapPlusPlus is a multiplatform C++ library for capturing, parsing, and crafting network packets. It wraps popular packet processing engines like libpcap, Npcap, WinPcap, DPDK, eBPF AF_XDP, WinDivert, and PF_RING, and supports reading/writing PCAP and PCAPNG files.

## Use cases
- parse network packets from a pcap file in C++
- capture live network traffic on Linux or Windows
- craft and send custom network packets
- analyze network protocols for forensics
- reassemble TCP streams from captured packets
- build a high-performance packet processing tool with DPDK
- read and write pcapng files programmatically

## When to choose
- you need a fast, cross-platform C++ library for packet capture, parsing, or crafting
- you want wrappers over libpcap, Npcap, DPDK, AF_XDP, or PF_RING with a unified API
- you need to read/write PCAP and PCAPNG files in C++
- you're building network forensics, monitoring, or security tooling

## When to avoid
- you need a high-level scripting solution (Python's Scapy may fit better)
- your project is not in C++ and you don't want bindings or a C++ toolchain
- you need GUI-based packet analysis like Wireshark provides

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: parser, networking, developer-tools
- domain: networking, security, developer-tools
- platform: windows, bsd, cpp, cross-platform
- tags: packet-capture, packet-parsing, packet-crafting, pcap, pcapng, dpdk, pf-ring, af-xdp, npcap, libpcap, tcp-reassembly, network-forensics, c-plus-plus, linux, macos, android

## Member repositories
- seladb/PcapPlusPlus (main) score 86

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:45.501458+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T07:26:11.303605+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/seladb/PcapPlusPlus (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:45.501458+00:00, sha 96a16b3f3234)
  - homepage: https://pcapplusplus.github.io/ (fetched 2026-08-29T09:41:00.724200+00:00, sha 230520f2d8c2)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.